Windows Update fail: Unable to upgrade to IE 9

HP Pavillion a610a Vista Home Premium 32 bit Intel Core (TM)2 CPU

6 to 9 months ago I found I could not download and run most Windows updates
At one point I did upgrade to IE9 but I returned to IE8
Now my main motivation is to once again upgrade to IE9 which I cannot do. The download stops about halfway thru process.

When the situation is at it's worst, I attempt to download updates and receive codes such as 643 and 8007371c. Some succeed and some do not. When I reboot, the "successful" updates are attempted, then stopped and backed out. The reboot procees will "cycle". I have to use HP rescue "F11" and system restore.

I have tried every suggestion. Some processes I was unable to preform ( for example: command prompt .. DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth ( "not recognized" ).

I will check, but I believe I am only using Windows Vista security measures. If I have added, active protection, I need to see that certain files are not scanned. In the directory %windir% \SoftwareDistribution. Exclude Edb*.log Res1.log Res2.log Edb.chk Tmp.edb

Clear the BITS queue of any current jobs

Download and manually install the 958056 update

Clean BOOT and attempt update

I currently have 17 updates that will not take including my attempt to download IE9

Hi JoeP ... Thank you for your response. This was a task within "FixIt" that I had attempted twice before. I receive the message "Windows update components must be repaired". Then it displays "fixed". Now, three times I have run this, it always shows "must be repaired" and "fixed". If I attempt to update all 17 updates at once, that is when I will get stuck in the "reboot cycle". Sometimes, just to try a fix, I try to download IE9. I am unable to at this time.

If I attempt to download all updates mentioned. ( I believe I have 17 now ), I am told some "failed" and some did not. And I am provided an error code. Then when I try to reboot, the computer will try to take the updates, it is unable to and the system reverts back. At that point I am stuck in a "reboot cycle". About halfway thru the IE9 download it stops and tells me "unable to continue".

Jack Murphy - I do remember becoming stuck in an endless reboot cycle. It was a long time ago, and before I discovered Windows Lounge. Somehow (and I cannot now remember how), I discovered the location of the file that was causing the endless reboot, deleted this, and restarted the Windows Update process, successfully this time. More experienced Loungers may be able to fill in the gaps.

Hi John. I know how to solve "reboot cycle". Do not attempt to download all files suggested by Windows update. Ran CHKDSK and attempted to download IE9 again. Stopped at just over halfway done with download.

Thanks Joe. I believe update to IE9 appeared once in Windows update. It does not offer that as an option anymore. I tried the direct download from Microsoft. No good. Stpos just past halfway thru download. Then sends me to FixIt ect. And I have tried all fixes I have read to date.

I've read the thread and am a bit lost with the sophisticated methods suggested so far. Had a similar problem on my Vista install (64-bit) that I ran for three years.
Given some of the things you've already done to your system, the following may not work, in which case you might consider doing a repair install to clean things up before trying anything else, or at least boot into a last-known good, restore point, or image from when things were working.

What I did was tedious and simple. After turning off Windows update, then checked add/remove list for last successful update. Next, manually navigated to Windows update page to have it scan my system and present the list of updates - and to verify it agreed with the add/remove list.
I tabbed to Microsoft download page and manually downloaded every update. Then I installed each update, one by one, rebooting the system after every one. (Reboots may have been unnecessary unless specified.)
Everything worked. But that's not the end of the story.

Happened again about a year later. Only this time, about half way through, an update did not. It kept getting stuck about halfway through its installation. I won't describe my joy at the next three hours of slogging through knowledge-base articles and various forums from results of a web search on the problem. As someone here posted, the fix was to find and delete a file in one of the Windows subfolders, then proceed with installing the update.
It worked. I don't know if it will work for you, but it's the best I can offer.

As for installing IE9....
Read up on the upgrade procedure from IE8 to 9, looking for gotchas and dependencies, to make sure your system is 'approved' for installing IE9. If there's an inspection tool, do run it. Only then, manually download, verify by MD5sum, and try installing 9. Good luck.

Thank you for your response! This problem began long ago so the only time I use system restore is in HP rescue when I have to get out of the "reboot cycle" reboot after attempting to download all suggested updates.

I like the idea of looking for file in a Windows subfolder to delete.

I like the idea of attempting to download each update manually off Windows site and reboot each time.

I did update IE8 to IE9 once before successfully. I preferred the layout of IE8 so I returned to IE8. Mistake. I did not realize IE8 has compatability issues because of it's age. I think the process I took to reinstall IE8 and remove IE9 may possibly be at the root of the issue.

Last thing is I have read that some virus detection utilities will scan certain files that will cause a conflict. I have those listed. But I am only using Windows defender(?) active in background. Although I have other utilities installed. This area I am uncertain of.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by kermidge

I've read the thread and am a bit lost with the sophisticated methods suggested so far. Had a similar problem on my Vista install (64-bit) that I ran for three years.
Given some of the things you've already done to your system, the following may not work, in which case you might consider doing a repair install to clean things up before trying anything else, or at least boot into a last-known good, restore point, or image from when things were working.

What I did was tedious and simple. After turning off Windows update, then checked add/remove list for last successful update. Next, manually navigated to Windows update page to have it scan my system and present the list of updates - and to verify it agreed with the add/remove list.
I tabbed to Microsoft download page and manually downloaded every update. Then I installed each update, one by one, rebooting the system after every one. (Reboots may have been unnecessary unless specified.)
Everything worked. But that's not the end of the story.

Happened again about a year later. Only this time, about half way through, an update did not. It kept getting stuck about halfway through its installation. I won't describe my joy at the next three hours of slogging through knowledge-base articles and various forums from results of a web search on the problem. As someone here posted, the fix was to find and delete a file in one of the Windows subfolders, then proceed with installing the update.
It worked. I don't know if it will work for you, but it's the best I can offer.

As for installing IE9....
Read up on the upgrade procedure from IE8 to 9, looking for gotchas and dependencies, to make sure your system is 'approved' for installing IE9. If there's an inspection tool, do run it. Only then, manually download, verify by MD5sum, and try installing 9. Good luck.

But, whoa. With respect to re-installing IE8, I don't know if it's one of them, but Microsoft states clearly for several of the IE versions that once installed _you can not go back_ to a previous version without doing a complete clean re-install of the OS. Please check the instructions for installing IE9 or do a search to see if this restriction applies.

After reading what the problems you were having and what you've done trying to fix them, my immediate concern was to get you back to a completely working state unencumbered by the consequences of unsuccessful updates and whatever it exactly is you'd done with IE.

My thinking was that until you had a known good OS whatever you did could otherwise easily make things worse without solving any of the problems. This is why when I read "I like the idea of looking for file in a Windows subfolder to delete." I came halfway out of my seat. This was a fix that only applies to a very specific situation that might not either apply to you or work for you.

It's very tempting when things go wrong to dive in willy-nilly with attempted fix after fix, chasing the dream of arriving at the goal of a perfectly working system. Ain't gonna happen. I know little enough, without detailing how many years it took me to learn this. Many of us remember the years of the brain-dead automatic response from support: reformat the hard drive and start over. It was definitely over-recommended but had a sound basis.

As best I can figure, until you start from a known, stable, properly working system, you'll all too likely be spinning your wheels. Step-by-step, verify, backup/set restore point/make image, then another step. Then when and if something goes sideways, you'll know what and when, and can proceed from there. It's an old, stodgy, fuddy-duddy way of doing. But it works. Usually. [ducks and runs...]

Oh, and unless there's been a serious problem with Windows Defender (or whatever it's called these days) it's somewhere between very unlikely to irrelevant to the issues at hand. The only time an AV would cause a problem would be if it quarantined a system file. These occasions are exceeding rare. I respectfully suggest that the thing to do is to focus on a careful plan to get your system working well.

Hi. I appreciate your feedback. That is interesting about "some" Windows applications may not you to "go back" to a previous installed version. In this case that would mean, originally I am using IE8. I upgrade to IE9. I remove IE9 and reinstall IE8. Then I attempt to update to IE9 again and this is not allowed. Should be easy to determine.

My OS is stable. I don't have any issues other than, I am missing about 17 "updates" and I am running IE8, which today, given it's age, is not the best when it comes to compatability with many website activity. I tried Chrome and it performs well, but I prefer to stay with the IE format if possible.

I have sent a CBS log file to someone at Vista Forums and we will see if anything in particular sticks out.

I hear you about reaching the "wrong" individual over the phone offering tech help when they throw their hands in the air and suggest a hard drive format.

a) Click on “Start” and type “cmd” (without the quotations).
b) When you see the “cmd” icon, Right Click on it and select “Run as administrator”.
c) On the open Command Prompt window copy and paste the commands (all at once) –

Ran the above. Went to Windows Updates. Downloading IE9 was not an option. Decided to try just one update ( again ) Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 Windows Vista kb2838727

Fail

Error code 8007371C

Usually I would end up being directed to FixIt from there. A process I have taken a few times.

Originally Posted by MrRMC

Hi,

Looks like you started the fix, but didn't finish it.

a) Click on “Start” and type “cmd” (without the quotations).
b) When you see the “cmd” icon, Right Click on it and select “Run as administrator”.
c) On the open Command Prompt window copy and paste the commands (all at once) –